by New Worker correspondent

Six people have been arrested after Palestine Action campaigners climbed onto the gatehouse of an Israeli arms factory in Newcastle and blocked the entrance to the plant. The protest began last week when a specially-adapted vehicle was used to block the entrance to the weapons plant, with an activist locked on inside the secured vehicle. Others climbed on top of the security box and plastered the premises in red paint to signify the blood of the Palestinians murdered by the weapons made by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems.

Rafael, Israel’s third biggest weapons firm, is owned directly by the Zionist state. At the time they acquired Pearson Engineering and Armstrong Works, in September 2022, it was described as a vital part of the “strategic expansion” of Israel’s weapons manufacturing capabilities, as well as a way of trying to get round any future arms embargoes. The site specialises in producing armoured military vehicles and tanks, including armoured bulldozers and ‘Robotic Combat Vehicles’.

Rafael, the parent company, manufacture a range of weapons, advertised as “extensively battle proven by the Israeli Air Force”, including guided Spike missiles, which have slaughtered thousands of Palestinians. Labour Lord, John Hutton, is amongst the directors of the Israeli state-owned weapons factory.

In September 2023, Rafael announced that Armstrong Works would be playing a significant role in delivering the Samson 30mm Remote Weapons Station. These remotely-controlled “High Lethality” death-factories include an arsenal of long-range weaponry, such as high-calibre machine-guns, 30mm cannon,40mm grenade launchers, and Spike missiles. As well as being used on vehicles, they are

used around the perimeters of besieged Gaza, and recently in southern Lebanon, allowing the Israeli military to kill from afar. In May 2023, to mark the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, Palestine Action occupied the roof of the Rafael factory, shutting it down for two days, and causing £69,000 in damage to the weapons site, plus £600,000 in losses, while no weapons were being produced. Since then, there have been regular protests outside the factory gates by local pro-Palestine activists, some of which the police have attacked violently, with arrests being made.

Last week’s action marks the start of an escalation of the direct-action campaign against the Israeli weapons maker, and they can expect to be increasingly targeted

to disrupt the manufacture of Israeli weapons. It takes place at a time when, despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to murder Palestinians, both in Gaza and the West Bank, to take hostages and imprison them without trial, and to destroy homes on the West Bank, and whole towns and villages in Lebanon.

A spokesperson for Palestine Action said: “The Israeli government owning a weapons factory in Newcastle is a stain on the whole city. The Israeli death machine has to be stopped, and with the British government entirely complicit in the genocide, it is up to ordinary people to do their part to halt the manufacture of Israeli weapons here. We put Rafael on notice, that we will shut them down at every opportunity. Each hour of production lost means less lives taken.”